Editing My Country, 'Tis of Thee (section)

==History==
[[Samuel Francis Smith]] wrote the lyrics to "America" in 1831<ref name=Oxford>{{Cite book|editor-last=Garraty |editor-first=John A. |editor2-last=Carnes |editor2-first=Mark C. |name-list-style=amp |title=American National Biography| volume =20|location= New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|year= 1999|page= 281}}</ref> while a student at the [[Andover Theological Seminary]] in [[Andover, Massachusetts]]. The use of the same melody as the British royal anthem is a [[contrafactum]] which reworks this symbol of British monarchy to make a statement about American democracy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fassler |first1=Margot Elsbeth |title=Music in the Medieval West |date=2014 |location=New York |isbn=978-0-393-92915-7 |page=5 |edition=First |quote=Examples of contrafacta abound in many times and cultures. ''My Country, 'Tis of Thee'', for instance, is a contrafactum of an earlier English anthem, ''God Save the King'', and the reworking makes a statement about American democracy.}}</ref>

Composer [[Lowell Mason]] had requested that Smith translate or provide new lyrics for a collection of German songs, among them one written to this melody. Smith gave Mason the lyrics he had written, and the song was first performed in public on July 4, 1831,<ref name=Oxford /> at a children's [[Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day]] celebration at [[Park Street Church]] in Boston. The first publication of "America" was in 1832.<ref name=Oxford />